Use them or not, our endorsements are fair

Now that we have begun to announce our endorsements, it is inevitable that we will hear from supporters of those candidates we do not pick. It is always the same refrain, questioning our fairness.

One such complaint came today from a supporter of a candidate in the City Commission, Seat 1, race:

“Mr. Gabordi, can we please have more decent, unbiased, thoughtful and even coverage of our good local public servants and political candidates, please? Also, is it possible that the Democrat endorsement came out a bit too soon?”

It is a kind of “Have you stopped beating your cat?” question. By answering it at all, at least directly, you admit guilt.

There are a few things of which I can absolutely assure every reader:

We almost never enter the endorsement meetings with our minds made up about whom we will endorse. In two of the meetings we have had thus far with candidates, even after our interviews there was vigorous debate.

We listen to the viewpoints of each Editorial Board member, including members of our Citizen Advisory Board who attend or send in opinions, as well as do independent research. Then we come together and try to reach consensus.

As in any such group decision-making processes, there is give-and-take. When the final pick is made, if the decision is not-so-cut-and-dried, we try to write our endorsement to reflect that. Conversely, if it is a slam-dunk, we try to write it that way, too.

In the end, our endorsement is only the collective, agreed-upon opinion of our Editorial Board and should be viewed by readers as only one piece of information in deciding for whom to vote, if it is considered at all.

As I’ve said many times before, some readers welcome this information; others ignore it. Some readers like to vote for someone other than whom we pick; some like to go with our picks.

Some even send in a list of candidates whom they think we will pick prior to our endorsements being made public. One person who did so this year is thus far 0-2 in the four names he sent me.

In any event, the last thing we are in our selection process is unfair, unless you define fairness as agreement with your position. In that case, we would probably be fair some of the time and unfair other times, using the exact same process, and that is simply illogical.

We cannot promise fairness, however, only that we make every attempt to be fair.

You should also know that the news reporters are not a part of the Editorial Board, with the news gatherers never in on the selection and never privy to any of the details of our discussions. They see the outcome, of course, getting only the same information that we provide any of our readers.

Only one person is a member of the news team and the Editorial Board, and that is me.

The truth is there have been many times in my career as the editor of a newspaper going back to 1992 that my first pick does not end up being our endorsed candidate, either because I’m swayed by the others on the board or — in rare situations — overruled by the publisher.

And there have been rare times when I have personally disagreed with our selection so much that I have written a column saying so, and other times when I have used our endorsements as I urge others to do — as a single piece of information — and voted otherwise.

But the process could not be more fair or open. We even have allowed readers to sit in on our interviews with candidates and have webcast the interviews live and on-demand. To see our videos and other political coverage, use this shortcut: tallahassee.com/election.

The truth is our endorsement may be the best, most unbiased source of political opinion available in the election. We have nothing to gain personally or professionally, and we spend much more time than the typical reader can afford studying the candidates and their issues.

But if you don’t believe that, your option is simple: Simply ignore it.

You can send comments by clicking on Bob Gabordi’s blog on Tallahassee.com, e-mailing him at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com and Twitter @bgabordi. You can also find links to his blogs on Facebook. His mailing address is Bob Gabordi, Executive Editor, Tallahassee Democrat, P.O. Box 990, Tallahassee, FL 32302. His telephone number is (850) 599-2177.

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You can send comments by clicking on Bob Gabordi’s blog on Tallahassee.com or Move.Tallahassee.com, e-mailing him at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com and Twitter @bgabordi. You can also find links to his blogs on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. His mailing address is Bob Gabordi, Executive Editor, Tallahassee Democrat, P.O. Box 990, Tallahassee, FL 32302. His telephone number is 850-599-2177.